MELBOURNE, Australia -- Success came quickly for Jennifer
Capriati -- up to a point.
|  | | American Jennifer Capriati celebrates her semifinal victory against compatriot Lindsay Davenport. It will be Capriati's first Grand Slam final appearance. |
At age 14, barely out of eighth grade, she reached the
semifinals in the first Grand Slam tournament she played, the 1990
French Open.
It seemed only a matter of time before Capriati would take the
next step. But time, in this case, meant waiting nearly 11 years.
Capriati will play in her first Grand Slam final Saturday when
she meets Martina Hingis for the Australian Open title. What a
contrast: Hingis, the three-time champion seeded No. 1, against
Capriati, seeded 12th and touted by virtually no one to make the
final.
"Jennifer has nothing to lose," said Andre Agassi, who will
play in the men's final Sunday against one of two Frenchmen,
Sebastien Grosjean or Arnaud Clement. "She should work hard and
swing for the fences."
It will be Capriati's biggest match since at least 1992, when
she became a 16-year-old gold medalist at the Barcelona Olympics.
Her career collapsed the following year in a swirl of drugs and
personal problems.
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Hingis vs. Capriati
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Hingis leads series 5-0
1997 - Sydney, hard, final, Hingis, 6-1, 5-7, 6-1
1998 -- Hamburg, clay, quarters, Hingis, 6-1, 6-3
1999 -- Filderstadt, hard, round of 16, Hingis, 6-4, 6-0
2000 -- Hertogenbosch, grass, semis, Hingis, 7-5, 6-2
2000 -- Zurich, hard, semis, Hingis, 6-3, 6-2
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She left the women's tour for 2½ years and has enjoyed only
modest success since her return. There were six first-round Grand
Slam losses, several tearful news conferences and skepticism as to
whether she should even continue her career.
At 24 she's only four years older than Hingis and Venus
Williams, yet in tennis she belongs to a different generation -- in
her first professional tournament, she played doubles with Billie
Jean King.
So it was easy to wonder if her time had passed.
"Of course those thoughts would go through my head when the
going got really tough," she said. "I could have given up a long
time ago. I guess it's not in my nature."
Capriati saw signs of progress at last year's Australian Open,
when she reached her first Grand Slam semifinal since 1991 before
losing to Lindsay Davenport. She avenged that defeat in Thursday's
semifinal, beating the defending champion 6-3, 6-4.
That victory came after Capriati survived a three-setter in the
first round, lost just 10 games total in the next three rounds,
then rallied from a 7-5, 4-2 deficit to upset Monica Seles in the
quarterfinals.
"I don't know what it is, but in this tournament, from the
beginning, it's like all of a sudden this wave of confidence came
over me," Capriati said. "I just really felt good about my game
and about everything. I think it just has really shown."
Capriati acknowledged that her success is a reflection of her
contentment off the court. It helps that she's no longer
supermarket tabloid fodder. For years she was tense and terse with
the media, but now she laughs easily and speaks expansively during
interviews. In short, she seems relaxed.
She's well-liked by other women players and last year dated
men's touring pro Xavier Malisse. She enjoys good relationships
with her divorced parents; her father, Stefano, who taught her how
to play, became her coach last year.
"Because he's my dad, it's easier to have that trust," she
said. "Whatever he says I know is right."
She found a conditioning coach who makes workouts fun, and the
result has been a trimmer, fitter, stronger player.
"Everything is thanks to her and not to anybody else," Stefano
Capriati said after the victory against Davenport. "She played well, but
it's not her best. She can play better than that."
Hingis, bidding for her sixth Grand Slam title but her first in
two years, has a 5-0 record against Capriati but expects to face an
improved player Saturday. Both finalists live and train at the same
resort in Tampa, Fla.
"Jennifer practiced a lot in December," Hingis said. "I saw
her every day at the courts. The hard work has paid off for both of
us -- just taking tennis as serious business."
With business good, Capriati is smiling again. It's not the
innocent grin she wore as a 13-year-old prodigy facing 75
reporters, photographers and cameramen following her first
professional match. Instead, it's the smile of a mature young woman
whose happiness has been hard-earned.
When confronted with the inevitable question about her troubled
past, Capriati stiffened slightly, but the smile remained.
"It's been a story that has been played a few times over and
over," she said. "Especially now, it's going to come up again,
because it's the first time making it to a Grand Slam final."
She laughed. "But that's OK."
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Martina Hingis vs. Jennifer Capriati head to head
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Capriati upsets Davenport; Hingis clobbers Venus
Hingis defeats Venus Williams to reach final
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